Memorial day weekend - Synonymous with FUN!

By Gauri Chandna

Memorial Day in New England marks the beginning of summer family activities. Surrounded with the best National parks, New England states are a treat during the spring, and summer months. While those choosing to stay at home bring out patio furniture, grills for their first barbecues, and house plants, and entertain guest in their back yard; many travel to their favorite summer destinations releasing themselves from being snagged indoors through the winter months. This three day long weekend with longer days comes with so much to do. A lot of families are the most enthusiastic around this time to kick off their summer activities, make wonderful memories and spend a lot of outdoor time. Towns hold spring parades to celebrate the weather. Swimming pools start to get cleaned and ready for exciting times ahead. Summer in New England is synonymous with FUN!

Sharda Jha a resident of Massachusetts made the most of this weekend with her extended family.  “This Memorial Day weekend, we decided to spend time with family and cherish sweet memories of those who are no longer with us. We picked a hidden gem in Boston area with historical significance that we had never visited. First of all, we hiked a small nature trail in Fellsway Crystal Spring area. Climbing rocks was real fun. We then visited Castle Island in South Boston which is dog friendly too. This visit gave us a glimpse of Boston under British occupation. We highly recommend friends to visit Castle Island, take a tour of fort and enjoy taking pictures of low flying planes landing in nearby Logan airport. Being in New England, nothing beats a visit to Maine to have lobster dinner. After all, it is the home of world renowned lobster. We had a fabulous fun-filled lobster dinner in famous Pirates Patio in Wells, Maine. The rest of evening was dedicated to playing cards and dumb chareds. In spite of a gloomy weather forecast the next day, we managed to visit Salisbury beach and took advantage of low tide to enjoy beach soccer. This brought us in a summer mood as well as prepared us for the upcoming Soccer World Cup in Brazil. Of course, the day could not be completed without hard fought battle in tennis courts. We enjoyed it so much in newly laid tennis courts in our hometown, Wakefield. It was indeed one of the best Memorial Day weekends with family. Not only we went back to bygone era in our memory lanes, we also build memories to cherish forever.”

This is also a time of parent visits for many South Asian families. The weather is simply perfect to welcome parents/grandparents who come and spend time with their children and make summer extra special. It is a time for building of family bonds through spreading joys in each other’s lives through pre-summer and summer activities together. Sandhyashree Padmanabhan , another resident of Massachusetts shared with us ,”This summer is extra special for me as my parents are visiting. Since Memorial Day serve as an official kick-off to summer activities, we went on a pre-memorial day weekend shopping to get ready for the season. On the weekend, upon my dad’s suggestion we visited Walden Pond State Reservation to learn more about Massachusetts’s very own thinker Henry David Thoreau. Weather co-operated well for our trip."

Nikita Rao , a resident of New Hampshire shared her family tradition. “We have been spending our Memorial Day weekend with our friends since last 2 years In Waterville Valley Resorts in New Hampshire, one of the best places to hangout with unlimited bike , hike , swim, boat , absolute adventure retreat with friends in a great gateway !!! We love it and look forward to it every year !!”

Whether it is trips to the beaches or mountains, or travel to International destinations, New Englanders get about 14 weekends between Memorial Day and the day schools re-open for the next academic year, to fulfill their ‘outdoor wishes’ that they savor all year round. We wish you all a great summer of 2014.